Davie to redraw voting districts

A proposal to reshape District 1 is protested by annexed residents.

November 16, 2006|By Thomas Monnay Staff Writer

DAVIE — The Town Council voted Wednesday to revamp its municipal voting districts to make room for two newly annexed communities.

Community leaders from Pine Island Ridge, once thrilled to be annexed into Davie, now say they are disappointed with the preliminary decision to place their community in District 1, which now covers the easternmost portion of the town.

"It would be a disservice if we were put into District 1," said Marvin Simon, a Pine Island Ridge resident who spoke Wednesday at the Town Council meeting.

The town has four municipal districts, and Simon said the western Davie neighborhood would fit better in either the second or third district.

District 1 comprises most of the area bordered by Davie Road, State Road 84, State Road 7 and Griffin Road.

Under the proposal, the northern part of the district would stretch west of Pine Island Road.

The move would place 61 percent of District 1's existing voters into District 2, said Phil Busey, a Democratic Party activist from Pine Island Ridge.

"It's the most radical and most extreme of the options," Busey said.

Mayor Tom Truex said the proposal is the best option available to redraw the boundaries, although he would prefer dividing the town into quadrants.

He also said the boundaries in the new proposal are similar to those that existed five years ago, the last time the town redrew district lines.

"The fact that we have multiple districts touching each other is a healthy thing," he said.

Council member Bryan Caletka, who represents District 1, said the new lines form "a weird shape."

The council members hired a consultant and formed a committee to review district boundaries after Davie annexed Pine Island Ridge and United Ranches earlier this year. The two annexations helped raise the town's population from 86,288 to 92,431. A housing boom in the town's western section also contributed to the population surge.

Pine Island Ridge is an enclave south of State Road 84 between Pine Island and Nob Hill roads. It has 3,250 residences with a tax base exceeding $145 million.

United Ranches is a semi-rural area bordered by Griffin Road on the north, Stirling Road on the south, Southwest 106th Avenue on the east and Hiatus Road on the west.

Under the town's charter, local voting districts must be redrawn if Davie's population increases 5 percent as a result of annexation or grows 10 percent since its last redistricting.

The review committee on Nov. 6 recommended three of four voting maps, while consultant GeoWeb Consult Services submitted two more for council members' consideration. District 2 emerged as the main suitor for Pine Island Ridge on three of the maps.

The town's charter requires all districts to be evenly populated, so the consultant and review committee members had to move parts of District 2 into District 1, which was the least populated district in the town.

Thomas Monnay can be reached at tmonnay@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7924.